LOS ANGELES -- Two former and two current Transportation Security Administration employees were accused of allowing large amounts of cocaine and other drugs to pass through X-ray machines at security checkpoints in exchange for cash, authorities said Wednesday.

The indictment involving drug conspiracy and bribery charges outlined five incidents where the employees took payments of up to $2,400 to provide drug couriers unfettered access at Los Angeles International Airport over a six-month period last year.

"The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs," said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.

Among those arrested and charged are Naral Richardson, 30, of Los Angeles, who was fired by TSA in 2010 and accused of orchestrating the scheme; John Whitfield, 23, of Los Angeles, a current TSA screener; Joy White, 27, of Compton, who was terminated last year; and Capeline McKinney, 25, of Los Angeles, also a current screener.

It wasn't immediately known if any of the four had retained attorneys.

Randy Parsons, TSA's security director at LAX, said the agency is disappointed about the arrests but that it remained committed to holding its employees to the highest standards.

If convicted, all four employees face a minimum of 10 years in federal prison.

If you still don't feel safe flying, there's probably a stash on board that you can take a couple of hits from. It'll calm you right down. :D

xfire

2012-04-25, 18:19

I'm glad I don't have anywhere to go that I can't drive to get to.

PlumpRump

2012-04-25, 19:00

TSA's security director at LAX, said the agency is... committed to holding its employees to the highest standards.

A Catholic priest who was defrocked in 2002 over sex abuse allegations has a new job...with the TSA.

CBS Philadelphia reports that Thomas Harkin, who worked at churches across southern New Jersey before being removed by the Diocese of Camden because he was found to have abused young girls, now has a job as a "Transportation Security Manager, Baggage" with the TSA at Philadelphia International Airport.

The station saw Harkin working as a checkpoint supervisor between terminals D and E at the airport even as a new lawsuit has been filled against him for sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl.

Karen Polesir, a spokeswoman with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told the station, "They should know who they're hiring...As the public, we are screened to our underwear getting on a plane, and yet they hire a man like that."

Yet a TSA official told the station that his title reflects that he deals mostly with luggage, not people. When asked by CBS Philadelphia if the flying public should be wary of his appointment, Harkin said, "No, they shouldn't be."

Beginning in October 2007, the TSA "began requiring airports to receive a favorable security threat assessment result for all employees prior to issuing airport badges," according to its website. The airport is in charge of doing background investigations, including checking fingerprints and checking for any of 28 "disqualifying crimes," according its site. The 28 crimes are not listed, so it's unclear is sexual abuse is one of them.

In Harkin's case, the TSA said that because the allegations against him were so old, criminal charges were not filed. A spokesman with the Diocese of Camden said that two previous lawsuits against Harkin were settled.

In April, it was found that the TSA gave Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport (the world's busiest) license to hire "any workers needed" for the job due to a backlog of background checks. At the time, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun told Atlanta's Channel 2, “You can’t put unsecured people or people that you haven’t checked in a secured environment."

This is a picture of two Transportation Security Administration screeners leaving work last week.

But look closely. They're nowhere near an airport. In fact, if you've ever been to Washington, then you'll recognize the area just outside a Metro station near a congressional office building.

This is just one the images the TSA didn't want you to see last week.

How do I know? Because when I asked the agency assigned to protect America's transportation systems about the picture, its response was "off the record" -- meaning that I'm not allowed to tell you what it said.

But a legislative assistant who works in a nearby office building filled in the details.

"The two agents were at the Capitol South Metro Station roughly between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday evening," he says. "They had a white table set up inside the station and were randomly inspecting purses and bags. There were also a few officers as you can see standing next to the dark blue van in the picture that were 10 yards or so past the table, standing watch."

I was able to independently confirm that the TSA agents were there and that they were working. But beyond that, not much.

The fact that TSA operates outside of airports may come as a surprise to some Americans. The agency's so-called Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams work mostly in mass transit in big metropolitan areas, but not exclusively. They've been seen at ballgames, truckstops and even reportedly got themselves banned from Amtrak stations for a short while.

But why were agents at the capitol? Maybe it had something to do with the presence of a group called Freedom to Travel USA?

The TSA would probably prefer you didn't watch this report about the organization, or its co-founder, Wendy Thomson.

.....it's actually the videos at the link that are the point of this post. Especially the video at the bootom with Kip Hawley. Worth watching, IMO.

Jesse Ventura, the libertarian former governor of Minnesota known as The Body during his pro wrestling career, said he has stopped flying because he won't let Transportation Security Administration officers grope him anymore.

"I'm not with you in the studio because I've quit flying," Ventura told CNN's Piers Morgan in New York this week. "I have metal in my body so every time I go to an airport the metal detector goes off. And they treat former governors like criminals and I've had enough. I won't be treated like a criminal anymore so the only alternative is not to fly."

The former wrestling star last year sued the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA for subjecting him to "warrantless and suspicionless" scans and body searches.

Ventura received a titanium hip replacement in 2008 and afterward set off airport metal detectors. Instead of being screened by a noninvasive hand-held wand as he was before the implant, he was instead subjected to a pat down that "exposed him to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body," he said.

The lawsuit was eventually thrown out by a federal district judge in St. Paul, Minn., who ruled it should have been filed in a circuit court of appeals. The decision prompted the always colorful Ventura to vow to "never stand for a national anthem again," he said. "I will turn my back and I will raise a fist."

"It was a constitutional question so if she doesn't have jurisdiction no one does," he told Morgan. "People in this country need to understand when you go to any airport in the United States, you are not protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. They can do anything they want to you and there is no where you can go to seek redress."

The former governor isn't the only one feeling hassled by airport security. A recent survey of air travelers found most complained about checkpoint screening.

Master Roshi

2012-06-13, 19:50

they don't even do background checks on new hires anymore SMH

Master Roshi

2012-06-13, 19:52

I'm glad I don't have anywhere to go that I can't drive to get to.

don't worry, the viper teams are starting to do regular checkpoints on the highways, buses and trains so everyone is gonna get their private parts groped SMH